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A striking piece of American railroad and financial history from the Northern Pacific financing campaign of 1870, issued by Jay Cooke & Co. to promote the railroad’s First Mortgage Land Grant Gold Bonds.
One side advertises the “New 7-30 Gold Loan of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co.,” offering investors 7.3% interest payable in gold and emphatically declaring the investment “SAFE! PROFITABLE! PERMANENT!” The reverse carries a map showing the projected Northern Pacific route across the northern United States from the Great Lakes toward the Pacific Northwest.
The confidence of the advertisement is especially compelling in hindsight. Jay Cooke & Co., already famous for financing the Union war effort, became the principal financial backer of the Northern Pacific and mounted an enormous campaign to sell its bonds to the American public. The firm’s heavy commitment to the railroad contributed to its collapse in September 1873, an event closely associated with the beginning of the Panic of 1873.
The map was part of the sales pitch itself, rendering an ambitious proposed railroad across the continent as something tangible and seemingly inevitable. An example of this material is preserved by Cornell University in its P. J. Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography.
A wonderful artifact at the intersection of transcontinental railroad expansion, Western development, speculative finance, advertising, and one of the defining financial crises of nineteenth-century America.
Details
Title: New 7-30 Gold Loan of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co.
Organization: Northern Pacific Railroad Company
Financial Agent: Jay Cooke & Co.
Place: Philadelphia / New York / Washington
Date: Circa 1870
Format: Double-sided promotional broadside with railroad map
Dimensions: Approximately 12 × 18 3/4 inches matted; visible print approximately 9 1/8 × 15 3/4 inches
Presentation: Matted as shown
Condition
Good antique condition with expected toning and handling wear. Map side has a small approximately 5/8-inch edge tear with minor branching and an old transparent tape repair along a portion of the edge, with associated adhesive discoloration. Currently matted as shown. Please examine photographs closely for condition.
Topic
Northern Pacific Railroad; Jay Cooke & Co.; Panic of 1873; railroad bonds; nineteenth-century finance; transcontinental railroads; Western expansion; railroad maps; persuasive cartography; investment advertising; American economic history.
